This is Connected Standby and why it's a big deal for the Surface Pro 3

One of the more interesting features of the Surface Pro 3 is perhaps the least understood and undervalued: Connected Standby (also known as InstantGo since Windows 8.1). Connected Standby is a valuable addition to the Surface Pro line, borrowing the technology from RT devices.

Here's what it is and why it makes the Surface Pro 3 even better.

This is Connected Standby and AOAC

Microsoft introduced Connected Standby in 2011 during their Build conference as a new feature for Windows 8. Connected Standby is the name of the power state, but the name of the feature is Always-On/Always-Connected (AOAC). AOAC and Connected Standby grew out of the SideShow project during Windows Vista. If you remember some laptops with a second, mini-display that showed email and other updates, that was a precursor to Connected Standby.

The idea behind AOAC and Connected Standby is simple: when your laptop or tablet has its lid closed or display powered off, things should still be able to update, like email, weather, Skype, notifications, etc. If that sounds a lot like how your Windows Phone works, you are correct as that is Microsoft's goal. You can think of Connected Standby/InstantGo as a 'Cloud-scale wake-on-LAN' since the feature is reliant on Microsoft's notification service to wake the device for important things e.g. an incoming Skype call. Every time you install a Modern app in Windows 8.1 and it asks to be run as a background task, it is asking to deliver notifications when in this low-idle state. Apple has a similar feature with a cutesy named dubbed 'Power Nap' for its OSX.

The experience for the end user is that you never power down your Surface Pro 3, you just turn it off like a tablet. In addition, when in this low-power stage, things like email and weather will be updated so that when you turn it back on, everything is up to date (instead of force syncing everything at once). A user will even hear the email notifications come when the device is 'off'. Interestingly, a Connected Standby device will periodically wake up to renew its IP address and keep the Ethernet NIC connected, albeit in a low-powered mode.

The one caveat here is only Modern apps with the API enabled can partake in Connected Standby. Desktop apps can't. Microsoft did this to have battery drain between 1-4% per hour and so that the Live Tiles will be up to date when you go to use the device, giving the user a more seamless experience.

If you have a Surface RT or Surface 2, you're already familiar with Connected Standby as that's how those devices have always behaved. The Surface Pro 3 though, a full-fledged PC, now acts more like a Surface 2 for power usage. Connected Standby on the Surface Pro 3 means you can turn a music app like Songza on, stream some music and hit the power button and still hear the music playing. It's a neat experience and makes the Surface Pro 3 that much more special over the Surface Pro 2.

One side effect of the AOAC and Connected Standby mode is that the battery icon on the desktop will only tell you the percentage of battery left but not the time estimate, like traditional laptops. So if you're wondering why that isn't there any longer, there you go.

Connected Standby needs this to run

Not all Windows 8 devices support Connected Standby, including previous Surface Pro editions. Even my laptops don't have it, and they're relatively new. The reason comes down to chipsets and needing the right silicon to run the feature. Even though the Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3 i5 version share the same processor (i5-4300U), the Surface Pro 3 has some extra hardware configuration that the Surface Pro 2 doesn't have on board.

One plausible explanation I read is that Connected Standby needs a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 instead of the 1.2 version found on the Surface Pro 1 and 2. Additionally, a required 'active idle' power state dubbed S0ix via the System on Chip (SOC) is necessary, which presumably the Surface Pro 3 has whereas the other systems do not. As is, the Surface Pro 2 is not expected to be a Connected Standby device during its run.

Connected Standby devices also need low-power DRAM, special busses, and an internet connection like Wi-Fi.

Always-On/Always-Connected is the future

As we move into 2015, the differences between devices, laptop and tablets will blur even more. The Surface Pro 3 is an excellent example of this category-bending trend, and the Connected Standby addition makes it a reality.

My hope is that we see more Always-On/Always-Connected laptops and Ultrabooks in the near future that support these super low-power states, while at the same time letting consumers have an instant-on experience. Smartphones have set the trend for this capability and now, laptops and computers are getting the same treatment. It is exciting stuff, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Do you have a Surface Pro 3 or another Always-On/Always-Connected device? What do you think of Connected Standby and what do you think it means for mobile computing going forward?

Doesn't make the Surface Pro 2 any less awesome though. I have a Surface RT and a Surface Pro 2, and although connected standby has its uses, it really doesn't bother me at all that my SP2 doesn't have it.

Exactly... I don't understand mango.lovers point. Sure, you can boil down the net effect to users in a sentence. But it doesn't help to explain all the questions that brings up. Which is the whole point of the article.

"What effect does it have on battery life?"
"How does it work internally?"
"Why do Surface Pro 1 and 2 not have it?"

It still bears mentioning, though. I have always found this to be very like a super power on my little Atom tab-- I can leave it lying around for 2-3 days for the occasional 10-15 min use and it always comes on in a couple of seconds, and has all my email and the weather and stuff ready to update (it does take a few seconds for everything to totally refresh, but I blame the little Atom for that). It's been surprisingly one of my favorite features.

Sorry but if anyone actually claimed year of battery life with it enabled that is Intel level BS (ie, BS of a magnitude seldom encountered). A one to four percent loss per hour is not a year, nor a month, nor a week of unplugged and unattended idling.

What he said was if the surface pro 3 is left idle for more than a few hours (I believe it's 4 hours), it will turn into hibernate mode automatically, i.e. Everything saved to had and shut down the surface. In hibernate mode, the surface will actually last for a year as there's no battery consumption at all (but battery will still drain to empty after a very long period like any battery). You won't get notification though.

I can see on my router how is still conect when it is in sleep mode, even I can receive Skype call notification, email notification... So I dont understand how an Intel Atom (slow and old fashion) can do this and a better intel Chipset cannot. Maybe is about energy administration on those Atom, but still I think is a really big 'bug' on Surface Pro 1 and 2.

Yes, I can confirmed than is impossible to install any other OS than windows on Intel Atom z2xx cloverfield. I TRY to install Ubuntu, Android and even Windows 7, BUT is impossible. Search on Google/Bing and you will find than is restricted by Microsoft and Intel. But Atom Baytrail (z3xx) are different.

I see, although I suppose it's a driver issue and not a deliberate restriction. For example, apparently the PowerVR GPU used in Atom Z2xxx series doesn’t have drivers for anything other than windows 8/8.1; I’m not sure of any of this though.

I don't think is a driver issue. Because, in that case, you could run the installation setup and get the error message. But I try unlocking the security boot in UEFI and still it doesn't recognize the drive on USB, or SD card, or flash USB stick, or cd rom trough USB. It is just impossible, and them, I found on Intel.com an OS Android Port for Intel chipset and clearly does not include cloverfield (Atom Z2xx).

Just a warning to anyone who is looking to use the SP3 as a development machine with Visual Studio (at least 2013)... Once Hyper-V has been enabled on your machine this Connected Standby mode becomes incompatible and drops out of the list of power options; hitting the power button will throw you into hibernation mode.

Hyper-V is Microsoft's version of VMware. It's a hypervisor program for running virtual machines. It is used by Visual Studio (as an option) to emulate other environments such as Windows Phone for development purposes. It can also be setup seperately from Visual Studio and used to host "normal" vitrual machines for whatever purpose.

It's nice that it checks regularly but on my SP3 it doesn't check sometimes for hours. The other thing is it takes much longer to turn on than my SP1 did. On my SP1 when I turned it on it would show the Surface text without about 2 seconds and then start boot. Now with my SP3, which should be in connected standby, it takes about 8 seconds before you see the Surface name on the screen. It often makes me wonder if I even turned it on.

The other things I am experiencing all over again are the network connection just dropping out periodically and not being fixed until reboot and sometime the mouse just stops working on the keyboard until I pull the keyboard and reattach several times. These happened to the SP1 on launch but apparently Microsoft didn't keep the fix in the SP3 so now I have to wait for an update. The other gripe is right after I took out my stylus the cheap plastic they use on the top of it broke in half after removing it from the cover. The metal part is sturdy but the plastic seems a lot cheaper and more fragile. Beyond that, it hasn't once gotten warm, feels much lighter and easier to handle, has a nice screen, and great battery life. Besides the pen, the other issues I have all seem to be software problems that need to be resolved.

Mine was having issues with waking on the first day. Even after installing all of the updates. After a few reboots, it seems to be fine now. Wakes up much faster than my Pro 1 now. The wifi bugs are very annoying, feels like SP1 wifi all over again. My touch gets wonky every now and then too. Touch doesn't work in some areas of the display, or it thinks it is being touched. As I was typing this reply I had to reboot because the app thought I was doing an up swipe. Reboot fixed it. I hope that can be fixed by software, and I think it can if a reboot is fixing.

Connected standby is one of the reasons I hated to leave RT for my Pro1. I picked up a a Pro 3 Friday.and one of the main reasons is connected standby. It feels like a tablet but runs like a laptop. I love it. Though I have seem some quirks of not getting notified when sleeping. I think this may be due to the WiFi bugs.

When a new app is installed and I run it for the first time, it asks to run in the background. I say yes, but then it says that it needs to be in the lock screen quick statuses. If I don't put it as a quick status, will the app still run in the background? That's one thing that isn't clear to me.

Funny thing is on Macbook it only works when it wants. Sometimes the battery dissappears for a while and other times with nothing running it kills the battery in a few hours while asleep. I was hit with the battery issues with my 2011 that they kept saying was fixed in a firmware update but never seemed to get fixed, just changed. :-(

From what I have heard before Microsoft may never do that because then they could have a very expensive device that doesn't even work with a carrier if they change things. I think I would prefer a dongle that is sleek and designed to blend into the Surface and be changeable for different carriers. Then you could change carriers without changing tablets and if the carrier upgrades their network you could just upgrade the dongle. Can you image forking out the money for an AT&T SP3 and then switching to Verizon or Sprint. Having all the different antennas for different carriers would present a whole new set of problems.

Hey Daniel, have you had issues with your Surface 3 "losing" the network adaptor and Bluetooth adaptor. After my Surface comes out of standby sometimes, the Bluetooth and wifi adaptor disappear. It tells me that the PC can't find them at all. I have reboot and they reappear.

Sounds like what xbox one has to bad it doesnt play nice with select routers
Only problem with mobile haswell is you cant get the graphics horsepower you can get with an ivybridge & finding good lv ram is problematic for this platform

"One side effect of the AOAC and Connected Standby mode is that the battery icon on the desktop will only tell you the percentage of battery left but not the time estimate, like traditional laptops."

I bought my Surface 1 RT in 2012 December. On the first day I immediately realised, that the battery meter does not show remaining time, only remaining capacity percentage. I said WTF? I asked if this is by design, or software bug on Windows RT 8.0? No answer received on Technet forum, neither on Answers.Microsoft.com. All those bright site admins there (by the way all have asian sounding names, and they are ALL stupid) couldnt tell me this damn single sentence quoted at the top. Its a shame to those idiots in Redmond, that I have to get the answer 18 months later on a site run by amateurs (like wpcentral).

"outdated" is simply marketing. your machine will still be great in a few years. My 4 year old PC (enthusiast-class) still runs like a champ. Not in the class of today's elite machines but still faster and better than most low-end machines that the average Joe buys.

Yeah, the SP3 is great but there's no way I'd trade in my SP2 to get an SP3. I love my SP2!!!!

Connected Stanby is a great idea, buit I have to say that on my Surface Pro 3 resume from standby is still royally messed up. I can't tell you how many times I've walked up to my Pro3 and hit the power button to be greeted with, nothing. Hold it a little longer, and nothing. Hold for a very long time and my Pro3 completely reboots (as is normal for a really long power button hold).

I believe these issues were reported by reviewers that have had the Pro3 since last month, but it was supposedly fixed in that last second firmward update (which I do believe was applied on my Pro3 not long after I set it up). For me the problems persist. Annoying, and I hope they'll get fixed soon.

I bet it will not be fixed ever, its HW defect, impossible to hack around from the poor-poor firmware thing. My Surface 1 RT suffers from similar issue, though its related to the touch-sensitive Start button: the device does not wake up at first touch, I have to touch the start button 3-4 times. Even if the tactile feedback confirms the device registered my touch activity. Fortunately, the power button was consistently and reliably waking and sleeping the device for me. Lol, new model, new variation of the same sh*t. When will people learn NOT to buy anything that just came out from the factory? Hell, even their hard earned money doesnt stop them from making this stupid mistake year after year, product after product.

Consumer society has future as long as people are so dumb and easy to fool with mind-washing adverts. Not a bright future for humanity, not so bright, folks..

Hmmm...interesting. I haven't experienced this yet. You might want to do another manual check using Windows Update. For mine, there was a single pre-requisite update before the batch with the firmware update. If you only ran Windows Update once you may not have gotten to the batch with the firmware. The Windows Update history should comfirm one way or the other.

Daniel, I just checked my update history and it shows just one Firmware update from 6/19. But I watched my Pro3 go through two firmware updates (at least I believe that was what I was seeing). And if I check for updates now I get nothing. Do you see two firware updates listed in Update History?

My surface pro 3 is often woken up during sleep, seemingly by random (I believe the cover is the culprit, I'm having the tablet replaced). This prevents the benefits of connected standby to a pretty large degree, and I often find the tablet nearly dead in the morning. I've seen some other reports of this, so I'm hoping my replacement is a little less buggy

I still can't believe MS made the keyboard cover put the SP3 to sleep but didn't include the wake on open????

Does anyone else have problems with the auto brightness just sometimes going dim or super bright with nothing changing in the room? I've been sitting in a room, no sunlight and nothing changes and while scrolling through an article it goes super dim. Other times I have the brightness turned down in a dark room and all of the sudden it just goes up to what seems like 100% brightness and nearly blinds me. Again, with no changes in brightness in the room.

I was surprised that Surface Pro 3 even supported Connected Standby as I read that Haswell processors did not support it. Maybe this is why SP3 has had some hiccups in getting it to work as it was perhaps bolted on.

But Connected Standby is amazing. It's one of the best features of my Surface RT. I just plop down the keyboard and the whole thing is on and ready to go. I love my Surface Pro 2, but I hate having to hit the power button. And having it take a couple of seconds to get into Windows. I wish it had connected standby.

But can you toggle Connected Standby off? The simple answer is "no". And my simple question is why not? CS was one of the primary reasons I sold my Surface RT. It lasted 3-4 days on a charge, so each time I wanted to use it (every few days) I had to plug it in. So much for a portable tablet. Yes, I could have disabled all of the background tasks, but then they're always off, even after waking your tablet. I resorted to toggling WiFi, which got me 7-9 days on charge. Interestingly, when turning WiFi on upon waking, my Surface updated tiles, mail, etc. in under 10 seconds. Is that so long to wait for 2-3 times the battery longevity. I am sure there would have been instances where I would have wanted CS on, but most of the time my phone was collecting that instant stuff. Please Microsoft, give us a switch to turn Connected Standby off or on.

i require connected standby, like i require glance screens on my phones, its the cherry on top, and is the reason i will be buying an sp3 over the likes of a macbook air. to me, the more a slate pc can act like a smartphone/tablet with its constant notifications the better.